... but the requirement for a PADI instructor to teach sidemount is ridiculously low, something like four dives in a sidemount rig and pass a written test. Whether the majority of sidemount divers are certified isn't the issue ... the quality of training provided is. And the majority of PADI instructors (or any other recreational agency, for that matter) teaching sidemount barely know anything outside of the syllabus.
At least for PADI, the requirements take two forms: 1) Complete a Specialty Instructor Training Course, with a PADI Course Director; or 2) make direct application to PADI, showing proof of experience, which can be either a) training as a sidemount diver, and at least 20 dives using a sidemount configuration, or b) proof of 50 dives using a sidemount configuration. I honestly do not know a) how many PADI Sidemount instructors are out there, or b) among, those how many did a training course, versus direct application. So, I can't offer informed comment on the assertion that the '
majority barely know anything outside of the syllabus'. Frankly, I don't see that many SM instructors - PADI or otherwise - in the water in NC. The ones I have seen appear to be pretty squared away as SM divers (gear, trim, etc.). But that is rather subjective.
The Specialty Instructor Training Course could require as few as 4 dives (per Bob's comment). And, I actually completed a SITC, after I had been diving SM for a year or so. Included in the 'students' in the course were two of us with a background of ~50+ SM dives after ~300+ BM doubles dives, and two instructors with no (apparent) previous SM or BM doubles experience. I guess that is referred to as 'diversity'.
It is an issue of some concern, at least for me. And, this is not a criticism of PADI, or any other agency - I also have no idea what any other agency requires for an instructor to teach SM (and would be very interested to learn from other posters). But, I am not altogether sure that someone with (only) 4 dives in a set of doubles - SM or BM - is necessarily in an optimal position to teach others, effectively. I certainly would not have been. The PADI Sidemount Diver course is a recreational, open water course, by intent. The pre-requisites for the student are a) OW certification and b) minimum age (15 yo). So, I can understand that the perhaps modest SM instructor requirements might mirror the instructor requirements for basic OW. And, I am pleased that PADI, and presumably some other agencies, are making an effort to offer recreational divers the opportunity to expand their horizons, early in their diving career. I would like to see an expansion of the requirements both in the SITC and for direct application. But, that is more of a visceral feeling, and I don't have a particular 'agenda' with regard to what that expansion should be.